Day Thirteen - Home (Deep Bay)

Well we made it home in one piece and still talking together!! Who would have guessed that one? The trip home was a wonderful drive down the Fraser Canyon that included travelling through a variety of ecosystems and tourism regions.

We left Prince George in the morning and headed south on Highway 97 stopping in Quesnel long enough to get Tim's steeped tea and then carried on. We stopped again further south to do some shopping at a great little gift shop along the highway (Caribou wood shop?) - look for the signs advertising the wood furniture and honey! The gift shop had a great collection of BC made crafts and other products. They even sold CD's and since dad was getting a little tired of my music I picked up a Johnny Horton CD and we listed to music from my childhood including: The Battle of New Orleans, Sink the Bismark, and North to Alaska! We sang along and I think we listened to each song at least five times!

The next stop along the highway was at a point of interest! This allowed me to take some more pictures of the impacts of the pine beetle and our last father/daughter picture of the trip. As the last ferry of the day (9:30) was looming in the background we kept all our stops short but I think we were also tired and ready to sleep in our own beds (we'll dad got his own bed).

The scenery along the highway was amazing - you transition from pine covered mountains and scrub brush to lush green forests. The mountains surround you for most of the trip and you travel along the Thompson River at one point and the Fraser at another. Many of the other rivers we travelled along were slow moving and meandered down the valleys - the rivers along the 97 south from Prince George do not!! It was easy to see why there were numerous whitewater rafting companies! Of course it was also obvious that economically this area was feeling the pinch too as there were numerous business no longer operating and/or houses and businesses for sale.


The only major stops of the day was for lunch - I remember that it was at the Red Carriage Inn but I cannot remember what the town was called!! We stopped long enough to have a quick lunch, talk to Grandma Forbes on the phone, and change into shorts! We had finally driven far enough south to find the sun and warmth again!! We also stopped in Clinton to stretch our legs, buy ice cream, and best yet...I was able find the perfect pottery coffee cup (tea only please)! I've been on the hunt for a while a was quite excite to find it!

We did see some wildlife on this leg of the trip - a number of deer and a small herd of California Big Horn Sheep. It was exciting to see some sheep but unfortunately there was no stopping to take pictures. Like many other road trip experiences the animals seemed to know where the road construction started!! I was also in the process of pass a couple of big rigs on the up-hill...there was no stopping! Dad was a little white knuckled at the passing (double lanes...no real danger) and I'm sure he would have liked to stop but again...NO STOPPING!

We our next destination was the Airtram at Hell's Gate - Unfortunately they close at 5:00 pm so despite our plan to head down to the fish ladders we were forced to move on! From there it was a quick stop at a gas station outside Hope and the long push to Horseshoe Bay.

We arrived at the ferry 20 minutes after the last ferry stopped loading - I don't know if it was full or not and I don't want to know as there is nothing worse than "just" missing a ferry!! We had dinner at the Boathouse - which was lovely as we could sit beside the ocean and enjoy the evening breeze.

At 9:30 we were loaded on the ferry and heading back to the island - the blurry picture is of the lights of Nanaimo as we headed into Departure Bay. Around 12:00 pm, two weeks after we'd left Deep Bay, we arrived back at the house. I took in the expensive gear (camera and computer) and left everything else in the truck! I was so tired that I managed to sleep through the sun coming up and shining in my face!

Well that's our trip! I hope that you've enjoyed reading about our escapades! I'm now back in the office working on

my dissertation - I miss being on the road already! Stay tuned as most likely there will be a Weighill road trip next year!

Aggie

Day Twelve - Relaxing in Prince George!

Today was great as we didn't have to drive anywhere! I slept in late and spent the morning sharing stories with Uncle Jim. Yeah - I did more listening than talking but it was great!

Auntie Alice worked this morning once she got home and we ate dinner it was off to Shasta Lake for the last kick at the fishing can! Going into the day I was leading the fish count 4 - 0 (really it was five as I had successfully landed the other fish...you'll see why this is important later).

Shasta Lake is a pretty little lake with a nice picnic area and a cleared section to allow for fishing from the shore. The fishing started out fast with Alice catching and loosing the first fish of the day. She caught a number throughout the day and threw back more than anyone else. Uncle Jim caught the first big rainbow of the day but in the end dad would catch the largest, weighing in at just under 2 lbs. This is significant as it means that my 2 pounder is still the largest fish of trip! However, it took a long time for dad to catch any fish and as you can tell from his face in the picture on the right!!

We spent most of the afternoon drowning worms but just as we were getting ready to call it a day dad made a big switch. He started using Auntie Alice's rod and my wedding ring lure (had I known the name I probably wouldn't have bought the thing!!)...in a very short period of time dad had managed to catch 2 rainbow trout, 2 squaw fish, and 1 white fish....yup that adds up to 5 fish! I told you the one that got away was important to the overall count!! It really should be counted particularly since dad had to throw back 3 of his fish!!!!!

I learned a lot watching Auntie Alice fish - the process? Fish bites hook...fish is on the beach! I didn't know that fish could water ski and despite the descriptions of her fishing that I heard from Ab I wasn't really prepared for the spectacle! Even better I got to witness her play fish football - her technique of ensuring that the fish does not get back into the lake! The three pictures below show the sequence of her landing the fish, dropping it, and kicking it!

The day ended really well - dad was smiling and I was still talking to Alice despite the fact that she was conspiring to ensure dad caught more fish than me! Of course she and I had a great laugh as I tried to remove an out of control eyebrow hair (think "pluck") from dad's face...in stead of the hair being pulled out his face came along with the hair. Needless to say he wasn't all the happy but Alice and I were crying from laughter!!

As I write this Alice is sitting next to me trying to ensure that I up-date the fish count on the main page! There is just no chance of me slipping anything past her. Tomorrow we continue our journey back to the coast - we are not sure if we'll make it back to the island or take a two more days to make it back. Either way I'm sure it will continue to be a great adventure!

Day Eleven - Prince George

Today we continued our journey back to the coast. The day started out early as I was sleeping on living room couch and the sun shone through the windows really early! We had a really nostalgia breakfast - hotcakes with strawberry freezer jam! The only real difference was that Grampa used to cook the breakfasts when they were on the coast.

We left with a promise to visit more often (than every 20 years!) and well wishes. If anyone is looking to move, the farm is for sale and the community is quite beautiful! I would be tempted except for the whole winter factor!!!! It's well known just how much I love cold winters!!

After saying goodbye to the dogs, Ab, and Gran we headed south to Dawson Creek which is the historic mile zero of the Alaska (ALCAN) Highway. We stopped at the tourism info centre where I left goodies for a former student and of course I took some pictures of the old grain elevator in the parking lot. After that we headed to the RCMP Offices for about 30 minutes.

No I wasn't arrested or even stopped for speeding! We stopped by to visit Officer Nowicki - a guy I went to college with with. We had a short but great visit and then we headed out for Prince George.

The drive from Dawson to Prince George was much more scenic than yesterday's drive. It was also very familiar territory for dad who was quite talkative on the drive down! The first place we stopped along the way was Chetwynd - a community where they have an annual chainsaw carving championship. Throughout town there are examples of the entries each year. It was amazing!!! This was a great example of what small communities can do to have people stop for a bit longer.

As we moved on dad started to share stories of his time up in the Pine Pass. I learned about all the snowplow routes and about the time that he managed to shoot snow into the train! To make the time pass a little faster I was listening to an audio book (Janet Evanovich's Fearless Fourteen) - this proved to be somewhat frustrating as dad would start conversations at random times! We made it work though as occasionally he would drift off to sleep and after a couple of hours he even got into the story!

Dad seemed quite nostalgic as we moved through the Pine Pass. We stopped at Bijoux Falls Provincial Park - it was a beautiful picnic spot that was a popular spot for travellers to stop and take pictures. You guessed it...I took pictures!

Just down the road from the falls was Honeymoon Creek and the Highways Maintenance yard that was my parents' home over 36 years ago! I don't know the actual dates but I do know that Cameron and I were born up there and Cam's 36 now! We were actually born in McKenzie but mom and dad lived in the Pine Pass for the first two years of Cam's life and the first 3 weeks of mine! Oddly enough I did not actually remember most of the stories that dad was sharing. He kept making reference to a hunting trip that Cam, Mom, and I were along for...I think I was around 2 or 3 years old at the time. Again...didn't really have much memory of the trip and I've only seen one photo from the trip!!

As we were driving through monsoons we didn't linger too much on the way south. I took the time to take some pictures of the hillsides as we drove through the past. The photo on the left has been enhanced to show the contrast between the dead pine trees (killed by pine beetles) and the small patches of healthy trees. Living on the coast and hearing about the pine beetle infestation does not prepare one for just how devastating these insects have been to the north/central BC. Not only is this tangible evidence of climate change but it is something that all British Colombians should be concerned with. If we do not do something soon we will not only loose much of our pine forests but we also run the risk of having an extreme forest fire as there is a whole lot of dry firewood standing in these forests!

We didn't see a lot of wildlife on this section of the highway but the scenery was lovely and the small communities along the way were great. Our only other stop was the tourism info centre at the highway access of McKenzie. The lady working there was incredibly friendly and when I asked whether or not she had worked with the Malaspina students who took part in TRIP last year, she very enthusiastically stated that not only was she involved in the project but that they were adopting many of the recommendations. She indicated that they had improved signage and made many changes within the info centre itself. Further, she felt that the recommendation that were made had resulted in increased visitorship to the centre. It was very cool to see and hear the results of the great work that our students and my colleagues do!

From there it was straight on to Prince George and a visit with Auntie Alice and Uncle Jim.

Day Ten - Taylor

The road from Fort Nelson to Taylor was most definitely the most boring section of highway that we've travelled. It was also the most deadly for wildlife! As you can see from the picture on the left there are really big signs warning people to be careful as they drive down the highway. Well this wasn't the case as we came across our first instances of road kill! In the first 250 km from Fort Nelson we saw one of each of the following dead on the side of the highway: Black bear, moose, elk, coyote, deer. It was a really sad day to see so many large, amazing animals dead along the side of the highway. While there is no way of knowing for sure how these animals died I would suspect that the number of transport trucks that literally fly (passed me like I was standing still...I was driving 110 km/h!!) down the road!

We did see one large animal - a moose!! It was lovely to see it but the experience was really over shadowed by seeing all the other dead ones. The moose was hangin' out in a swamp chomping down on the weeds growing. There were a lot of small ducks and other birds hangin' out with her. Unfortunately there were also millions of mosquitoes hanging around as well so I didn't take too many photos! As the bumper stickers say "There is not a single mosquitoe along the Alaska Highway. They've all married and had large families!"

As we made our way south we stopped off at a number of little towns and gas stations - after staying up so late to up-date the blog I was tired so required more sugar and caffeine!!

We passed Pink Mountain - or at least the signs said we did!! I didn't see a mountain so couldn't tell you if it is actually pink or not! When I asked someone at Wonowon (I thought it was "101"!) I was told that "in the right light it has a slight pink tinge". Personally I think this is a test to see how gullible tourists are and/or a test to see if people will admit to "not" seeing the pink!

We arrived in Fort St. John much sooner than I had expected as there were a lot fewer stops! In Fort St. John we stopped long enough to visit the visitor information centre, the Safeway for lunch, and Walmart to pick up a new wrist brace...it would appear that driving and sleeping on an air mattress is aggravating my tendinitis. Who woulda thought!

After lunch we headed further down the highway to the community of Taylor - we didn't' really stop as our destination was on the south side of the Peace River and the town. As you drive into the town you drive past the lovely pastoral scenes of farms and ranches...then you arrive in town! Then you see the contrast from the pastoral fields to the urban reality of industry!

Taylor has both a fuel processing plant and a pulp mill in the centre of the town. I noticed four things as we drove through the town: a) the Rec Centre (made me think of Keir), b) the mill, c) the fuel plant, and d) the smell! I'm sure there are a lot of really great things to see and do - the Peace Island Park looked really great - but as we were heading to visit family we didn't take the time to explore.

Our first stop was Dee and Gary's farm which is located outside of the Taylor and just down the road from Ab and Gran's farm. I'd never been here before and had not seen either Dee or Gary in about 7 - 10 years! Dee's daughter Elicia also stopped by which was great as she was a cousin that I had not seen since Grandfather Weighill's memorial service...around 20 years ago! While at their farm my adventure and new experiences continued as I was able to watch a fierier at work.

I had no idea what it was like to work with the feet of horses and had not really considered what it would be like to work with the feet of such large animals! The farrier was amazingly patient and work so incredibly fast. While he was working with one the mares I was able to play with the foal and the check out the rest of the horses that were in the paddock.

After we finished our visit we moved up the street to the farm owned by my dad's mom and brother. I had only visited here once for my Grandfather's memorial service when I was about 13 years old.

Arriving at the farm was a major trip into the past. My

Uncle Ab looks and sounds so much like I remember my Grandfather - this was particularly the case when he was calling the dogs (border collies).

Overall this was a boring travel day but a great family day. I really don't know my father's family well so it was really great to spend the day visiting with five different members of the family. Tomorrow we will move onto Prince George and a visit with dad's sister Alice and her husband Jim.

Day Nine - Fort Nelson

Well today was our first day of heading south! We started off in Watson Lake, Yukon where we packed up the truck in the rain :( Dad keeps telling people that the rain held off while we packed up - in reality is lessened but did not stop! By the time the truck was packed I was soaked! As our campsite had showers I made the decision to shower after packing - this is only noteworthy when I tell you that I kept out some clothing but the rest was packed at the cab-end of the truck bed...this wondering why I'm saying this? Well I didn't keep out a BRA!! Yup - it was either unpack the truck (in the rain) or go bra less for the day! I really do envy people who are members of the itti-bitti-titti club!!! Even worse? I dropped my underwear on the floor of an outhouse at the hot spring (info to follow) and had to go totally commando for most of the day - not a comfortable ride!!!

After a quick breakfast and a lot of coffee for dad we were off! The great part was that the ladies at the info centre had given us a sheet of all the highlights from Watson Lake to Fort Nelson...including cheap gas. The gas at this secret location (secret only because I cannot remember the name) was ten cents/liter cheaper than our fill-up in Dease Lake (159.9:169.9/liter). We were also warned that we would see a lot of wildlife on the road. They were right!! The first warned we got was related to the population of Wood Bison that live along the Alaska Highway from Watson Lake to Muncho Lake Prov Park in BC. It was a good thing we got the warning as we ended up seeing more than 50 Bison - it was like being in Elk Island National Park near Edmonton!

Initially we would see one of two on the side of the road and it was great when we reached a Bison count of 13! Then we turned a corner and saw a group of about 34 Bison hangin' out in the rain. There was an incredible large bull (see right) and a number of calves. It was just a really cool sight! Of course they all looked a little miserable as they were hanging around in a major down pour!

While I was excited to see the Bison I was on the hunt for other wildlife - preferable a large moose or more bears! We were rewarded with two different bears but no moose. The first bear was a lovely black bear not far from the Liard Hot springs Provincial Park - a little sobering but in no way a deterrent from soaking in the hot springs!

The hot springs were a feature of the trip that we've really been looking forward to! In part so that we could taunt mom but after the last two days it would be a time to relax in warmth when you really didn't care that it was raining!

The park is split into two different pool - alpha and beta. We tried out both of the pools - the first one was shallower and it gets progressively hotter (alpha) and the second pool was a deeper one (3 meters) and really warm. I could have hung out in it for hours, all I needed was a glass of wine and good book! I figure that mom and I would be able to hang out and swim in the deep pool for a long time! I would need to stay in the park though as I wouldn't be able to drive!

Dad loved to pools but it was difficult for him to be in some sections of the pool as the water was deep. In the picture on the left he is in the alpha pool sitting on a bench in the middle of the pool. You can see the ripples created by the rain - not that we cared as it was nice to have a cool face and a warm body. The only real down side was the unbelievable stench of rotten eggs...nothing I've ever smelled (including Cam's exam gas) was a bad as the smell if the wind was in the wrong direction.

I would totally recommend this park to anyone who likes water in general and hot springs in particular. The setting is wonderful - the beta pool was my fav as it was deep and did not have as many people (or children) in it!

After leaving the park we stopped for a quick bite to eat at the restaurant across the street from the park. If you have a lot of time and don't mind paying Banff like prices for adequate food it's not a bad bet. If you aren't starving and can last an hour or two, do so! The cafe was staffed with what I can only guess were the kids of the owners and I'm not sure the girls were 12! They did a great job of handling customers but were a little thrown by some of the people who didn't speak English so well or when the cafe filled up!

After lunch we continued heading south to Fort Nelson. Along the way we saw some amazing mountains, huge gravel flood plains, and another bear. This one was coloured like a grizzly but without the hump...Dad thought that it was a rock! He laughed at me when I stopped and backed up along the highway (no traffic) to double check! Sure enough the "rock" had fur and it was a cinnamon coloured black bear!!

I'm sure there is more to tell but it is almost 1:00 am and we're heading out early tomorrow morning! Thankfully we're in a motel tonight! Tomorrow we're off to Fort St. John to visit the family! After that we'll be moving on to Prince George and then back to the island. I don't know if I'll be able to up-date our adventure tomorrow but keep tuned as I'm sure there will be many more highlights before we get home!

Day Eight - Watson Lake

The morning of July 3 started with a quick pack-up of camp (Kinaskin Lake) and then a short hike to Natadesleen Lake which was reported to be an excellent fishing lake! Well the lake was full of fish but they just weren't biting - they were jumping all around us though which was a little frustrating! The only thing that was in abundance and around us? Mosquitoes!!! I've never, ever seen bugs like that before.

Mom (man are you my favorite mom right now) gave both of us a great gifts in the form of bug hats! We've only used them once and that was during the hike to Natadesleen Lake. If I hadn't worn the face shield I would have moved off the lake within minutes...actually I probably wouldn't have made it to the lake in the first place! As you can see from dad's hand (wasn't he nice to not squish the bugs until after I took the

picture?) the little blood suckers were out in force! I'm thinking I'll need a transfusion when I return home!

After leaving the lake we headed north for Dease Lake. The plan was to camp there if we could find a place with showers and wifi! Man did that plan change.

One the way to Dease Lake we spotted the scrawniest black bear we've seen. It was so much skinnier than any of the others that we've seen that I worry that it will not make it through the winter. It would prove to be one of two bears that we saw that day - the other was right on the BC/Yukon boarder - the size difference stunning (second bear below)! Other than seeing the bear we also took the time to stop at Upper Gnat Lake to do a little fishing! It was at this lake that I continued my dominance of all things fishing! Dad managed to catch the North American Plate, a willow tree, and not much else! Me? Well I managed to catch two fish - actually it was three but I dropped one (the largest and YES dad will back me up on that claim) when trying to get it out of the net. Unfortunately it landed very close to the lake and actually bounced into the lake. Before I could "re-net" it, it swam away! At this point the fish count stands as: Aggie 4 - John 0 (and that doesn't include the one that got away!). We'll do some more fishing in Prince George - perhaps dad will redeem himself!

As you enter Dease Lake you cross the Arctic-Pacific Divide and rivers start draining in to the Arctic Ocean. It was interesting to see as rivers appeared to be running in the wrong direction! We stopped in Dease Lake long enough to grab a quick lunch at the local deli and to do a little up-date on the blog, and check my email. That when I got my "welcome to reality" email from my doctoral advisor. We had planned to drive down to Telegraph Creek but after a relatively quick discussion we decided that we would continue heading north and would then start the week long drive south. This will shorten our trip by about 10 days - but neither of us are too upset as we are finding the process of packing and unpacking the truck very tiring!

So from Dease Lake we started heading north with the intended destination of Boya Lake Provincial Park. As we approached the lake we were driving through torrential rain so decided that we would keep driving until we were no longer in the rain! Well that ended up being a lot longer than we had intended so the final destination quickly changed from Boya Lake P.P. to Watson Lake Yukon.

As we approached the Yukon boarder and the junction with the Alaska Highway we saw the second bear of the day. This is the one that I mention earlier...huge! if you look really close you can see the million bugs that are harassing this giant! He was quite content to site and eat grass which was excellent as it allow both dad and I to take a lot of pictures.

Of course I was also able to get a picture of the "Best Place on Earth" sign - perhaps the province provides food for him to sit on the BC side of the boarder!! This was the largest black bear we've seen and like the sow that we saw on the way to Stewart he was looking really healthy.

Watson Lake isn't very far from the boarder but before we checked into our campsite for the night (campground services - great spot with strong wifi and showers!!) we stopped at the tourism info centre. The two women who worked in the centre (one a 22 year veteran who also has a house close to Malaspina!) were by far the most friendly, enthusiastic, and helpful info centre staff we've come across! The info centre is also the home of the Sign Post Forest - which is an amazing sight to see!

Dad has a friend (former co-worker) who posted signs from the island so we did a search through the over 10,000 signs to try and find them! We were not successful but I did find signs from Nanaimo, Powell River, Gabriola Island, Texada, Cedar by the Sea and...Lake Cowichan!!!

That's it for the day! Below you may have read about my attempt to up-date the blog in my tent while the rain came down in buckets!

Day Seven - Kinaskan Lake Provincial Park

We left the beautiful town of Stewart on July 2 - I was excited to be moving on but sad that I was leaving the wonderful shower of the Rainy Creek Campsite!! The trip out was even more amazing than the drive in as the sun was just as shinning and I wasn't as tired! As we left town we were stopped for construction and those of you who know my father will understand the irony of the next statement...as we were moving through the active construction zone my dad demanded that I stop the truck so that he could take a picture!!! After picking up my lower jaw and saying "no", I asked him what his reaction would have been if a tourist had stopped in the middle of an active construction zone...His answer? "I would tell them to F#$!ing move on!!!" He followed it up with a "I'm retired now so I don't have to follow the same rules!"

We skipped stopping at Mezadian Provincial Park and moved onto Kinaskan Provincial Park. As you can see from the picture - I enjoyed arriving at the lake in early afternoon. We did try a little fishing at the lake and river but did catch anything. The bugs at this lake were the worst we had seen but they were nothing compared to what would be coming our way!!

The drive up to the park did not contain any major wildlife viewings - we saw a Marmot on the highway from Stewart to Mezadian Junction. Other than that we just saw a lot of Ravens.

This is a really lovely park and great campground. The lake is stunning but very cold - if I was with someone else who swam I might have braved the water but I wasn't too upset not to try! I would definitely recommend this as a place to stay - they even had a book exchange!

There is a second lake within this park but we decided not to try the hike in until tomorrow - before we head north to the Dease Lake area.